Political Capital » Fox Newshttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital
Politics blog featuring the latest news and analysis from Washington and the US. Political editors provide insights & data about today’s politics.Thu, 07 Aug 2014 19:48:32 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.2Rubio vs. Bush: ‘Immigration Wars’http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-13/rubio-vs-bush-border-wars/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-13/rubio-vs-bush-border-wars/#commentsSun, 13 Jul 2014 18:49:39 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=135647The humanitarian crisis that has emerged at the Southwestern U.S. border — a reflection of a refugee tide emanating from Central America more than any distinct border problem — has tested everyone’s stance on the broader question of a path forward for American immigration policy. It’s also testing the readiness of Republicans to take a […]

]]>The humanitarian crisis that has emerged at the Southwestern U.S. border — a reflection of a refugee tide emanating from Central America more than any distinct border problem — has tested everyone’s stance on the broader question of a path forward for American immigration policy.

It’s also testing the readiness of Republicans to take a stand on an issue certain to play a central role in the presidential election campaign of 2016 — particularly in the party’s primary contests. It’s a good bet that Congress will do nothing substantive about the “comprehensive immigration reform” that leaders of both parties have sought — starting with President Barack Obama and including the bipartisan coalition in the Senate that produced a bill last year.

Which points to a couple of Republicans who probably know the issue better than anyone within their party who might be viewed as potential candidates for president in 2016. One of them is speaking out, and the other is not.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the Miami-born son of Cuban immigrants, was among those who won passage of a bill offering not only stronger control of the border, but also an overhaul of antiquated visa laws and a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11-12 million undocumented immigrants already living in the United States. His advocacy for that bill was said to cost him among the base of his party that views the citizenship question as a mater of amnesty. Yet today, as he works to rebuild support for a possible run for president, he points to the existing problem along the border as proof of the necessity of that Senate bill.

“It’s a perfect storm of three things,” Rubio said of the situation this week in an appearance on the FOX News affiliate in Orlando. It’s a combination of an insecure border, particularly in Texas, traffickers taking advantage of refugees and an unfounded impression that there is a law in the U.S. that will allow these refugees to stay he said. Most of them will have to be returned to their home countries, he said.

“Let’s not just throw $3.7 billion at this problem,” Rubio said of the supplemental bill that Obama has proposed. “Let’s put in place permanent border security measures… Let’s deal with this issue… once and for all,” he said. If so, he said, “we’d be able to settle the rest of the problem, which includes the people here now….. If we did that, i think you actually create an environment where you can deal with immigration in its entirety in the future, and that includes modernizing the legal system and dealing with 12 million people who are here illegally now.

Jeb Bush, former two-term governor of Florida and Texas-born son of one president and brother of another whose own children are U.S.-born Mexican-American, co-authored a book last year about the “immigration wars” that also supported the comprehensive reform the Senate was promoting — yet stopped short of citizenship, suggesting that some form of legal status for the undocumented would be preferable if the country is committed to averting another uncontrolled influx.

At the same time, he has revealed that compassionate conservative streak in the Bush family — Brother George W. Bush, who also promoted a comprehensive immigration reform, liked to say that family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande. For those crossing in pursuit of a better life for their families, Jeb Bush has said, it’s “an act of love.” That would appear to be truer than ever today, in the light of families handling their children over to smugglers for fear of the criminal gangs threatening their existence in Honduras and Guatemala. That went over with the base for him about as well as the bill did for Rubio.

Yet, as he privately weighs the possibility of a campaign for president, we haven’t heard much lately from the former governor on the question at hand.

On Twitter, Bush has picked up on some of the recent essays that criticize Obama for lack of leadership in general — this includes one by Peggy Noonan taking the president to task in the current crisis, which could be read as an indirect comment on Bush’s part (or employing Noonan’s commentary as a political shield. Noonan said this about Obama’s avoidance of the border last week as he traveled across Texas for midterm election campaign fundraisers: “Give the president points for honesty. He doesn’t want to enact an `I care and am aware’ photo-op. He will pay a political price, but it is clearly a price he is willing to pay. He never has to face a voter again.”

This is a good piece by Peggy Noonan. It’s time to stop blaming and start leading, Mr. President. http://t.co/Cz3TjypEg5

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, another Floridian who knows the issue first-hand, a Florida-born son of Cuban immigrants, worked with a bipartisan group in the House to produce something compatible with what the Senate was producing. His years-long effort was abandoned by House leaders this year.

“My solution would require those who came here illegally to earn legal status, earn their right to remain here, and demonstrate their commitment to the United States,” the congressman said last week. “It is an efficient and effective approach that is good for the American economy and fair to the people who came here legally… This system is not going to fix itself, and delaying a commonsense solution is only going to make matters worse as is evident by what is going on today with the crisis on the southern border.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-13/rubio-vs-bush-border-wars/feed/0Perry’s Homework Unfinished — But He Did Go to the Borderhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-10/perrys-homework-unfinished/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-10/perrys-homework-unfinished/#commentsThu, 10 Jul 2014 20:07:09 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=135507Updated at 7:50 pm EDT President Barack Obama gave a certain assignment to Texas Governor Rick Perry. The trouble is, the governor doesn’t work for the president, and the Republican with Texas eyes on a 2016 presidential bid might be hard-pressed to do Obama’s bidding. There was no word from Perry today about the request. […]

President Barack Obama gave a certain assignment to Texas Governor Rick Perry.

The trouble is, the governor doesn’t work for the president, and the Republican with Texas eyes on a 2016 presidential bid might be hard-pressed to do Obama’s bidding. There was no word from Perry today about the request.

Perry had his own assignment for Obama: Visit the Texas border. Obama declined. So Perry traveled there today.

“America’s heroes protecting the border,” Hannity tweeted about the beleaguered Border Guard at the crossings where thousands of migrant children have arrived.

Obama, in a private meeting with Perry yesterday, called on him to call on the Texas delegation to Congress to support the almost $4 billion the president proposes to confront the crisis of the children crossing the U.S. border.

“I urged the governor to talk to the Texas delegation, which is obviously at the heart of the Republican caucus both in the House and has great influence in the caucus in the Senate,” Obama said after their meeting in Dallas.

“If the Texas delegation is prepared to move, this thing can get done next week and we can have more Border Patrol agents on the border, as the governor has requested,” he said. “We can shorten the timetables for processing these children, or adults with children, as the governor thinks is important.”

Perry’s office did not respond to requests today for word about the governor’s approach to the president’s assignment.

Perry, who will retire at year’s end after three terms — the longest-serving governor in Texas — said after meeting with the president that he offered his own suggestions. They included sending 1,000 National Guard troops to the border.

“You know, I was like, `Mr. President, you can deal with this,”’ Perry said on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” program after the meeting. “You can unilaterally direct the Department of Defense to put those troops on the border,” he said he told Obama. “The president needs to understand that the single most important thing that he can do is put the National Guard on the border to coordinate with local law enforcement, with state law enforcement, with the Border Patrol.”

Perry had another request for Obama while he was in Texas raising money for the Democratic Party’s congressional candidates yesterday and today: Visit the border. Obama said he was not there for “theater” or a “photo-opp.”

And the Texas governor wrote this in a two-page letter to the president today:

“No state is better versed in this than Texas, and I, along with state and local law enforcement officials and Texas’ Congressional Delegation, are ready and willing to help the federal government meet its responsibility to secure the bôrder for the safety and security of all Americans.”

Plus, Perry added, how about the border tour: ”Your visit would also provide an ideal opportunity to meet with the Texas Congressional Delegation to discuss permanent solutions to our border security issues.”

Obama called the National Guard suggestion a “temporary solution,” yet something that might be considered if Congress approves the money needed to address the border crisis. “The things that the governor thinks are important to do would be a lot easier to do if we had the supplemental” budget proposed in Washington, the president said. “It gives us the resources to do them.”

House Speaker John Boehner offered his own thoughts about the president’s package today. The president said he’d be open to added National Guard if his bill passes, he noted.

“The president said yesterday he’d consider doing that only if he gets more money, with no strings attached. In other words, he won’t do it for the kids — it’s all about politics,” said Boehner, an Ohio Republican. “I can tell you this, though. We’re not giving the president a blank check.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-10/perrys-homework-unfinished/feed/0Cleveland Booked, 2016 Ohio’s Year?http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-08/cleveland-booked-ohios-year/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-08/cleveland-booked-ohios-year/#commentsTue, 08 Jul 2014 16:09:28 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=135213The Republican Party, accepting Cleveland for its 2016 presidential nominating convention, will hone in on the most necessary of states for its nominee. No Republican has won the White House without also winning Ohio, and Ohio has voted the way the nation has since the 1960s. The Republican National Committee today announced its choice of […]

The others under consideration by the Democrats: New York (Brooklyn specifically), Philadelphia, Phoenix and Birmingham.

The courting of a state for its electoral votes with the prize of an economy-boosting and energy-driving convention is no guarantee of success. The Republicans nominated Mitt Romney in Tampa, Florida, in 2012. President Barack Obama was nominated for reelection in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Each nominee lost the convention state in November.

Obama, however, was first nominated for president in Denver, Colorado, and carried the state in 2008. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona was nominated for president in St. Paul, Minnesota, and lost that state.

The event, nonetheless, is good for local business.

“This is great news for Cleveland and our entire state,” Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, said of the party’s decision in a statement today. “It’s a unique opportunity to showcase the new Cleveland as one of America’s great cities, and to bring dollars and jobs to Ohio.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-07-08/cleveland-booked-ohios-year/feed/0Bartiromo Italy-Bound: Prize Winnerhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-04-16/128021/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-04-16/128021/#commentsWed, 16 Apr 2014 18:37:01 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=128021Operatic arias, risotto and a crowd of 200 greeted journalist Maria Bartiromo last night at the Italian Embassy,where she was awarded the 2014 Urbino Press Award. Bartiromo, an anchor and global markets editor for Fox News, is the first finance reporter to receive the prize, given annually to journalists who have made significant contributions in […]

Maria Bartiromo, anchor for CNBC Inc., center, during a panel discussion at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on April 30, 2012.

Operatic arias, risotto and a crowd of 200 greeted journalist Maria Bartiromo last night at the Italian Embassy,where she was awarded the 2014 Urbino Press Award.

Bartiromo, an anchor and global markets editor for Fox News, is the first finance reporter to receive the prize, given annually to journalists who have made significant contributions in media.

Past recipients include CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Thomas Friedman of The New York Times.

The prize includes a summer trip to Urbino, in the Marche region, a cradle of the Italian Renaissance.

Italian ambassador Claudio Bisogniero called Bartiromo, a “Renaissance woman” for her multi-faceted career, first as a producer for CNN, then the first live reporter on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and now a personality on Fox News.

He said she has the “great ability to make very complex finance issues understandable. That’s a great gift.”

“My success is a direct result of my upbringing in Brooklyn with Italian-American parents and Italian grandparents,” said Bartiromo. “My father’s family is from Naples. My grandfather was a brick layer in Italy. We have lived my entire life with the traditions of Italy. My grandmother would not take her black veil off for a year after my grandfather died.”

One thing her Italian family taught her that she’s most fond of: their eggplant parmigiana recipe.

Italy is already in economic “recovery mode,” she said, singling out European Central Bank President Mario Draghi for his efforts.

“Because Italy is so rich in culture and tradition, it won’t be long before we see the economic situation turn around. At the end of the day the strength of business and the strength of government will prove solid.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-04-16/128021/feed/0Christie: Baggage ‘Just Politics in America’http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-31/christie-baggage-just-politics-in-america/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-31/christie-baggage-just-politics-in-america/#commentsMon, 31 Mar 2014 17:47:11 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=126375So does Chris Christie have too much baggage to make a 2016 run for president? Not to hear him tell it. “I’m older. And you know what? If you don’t have baggage, they’ll create baggage for you. That’s politics in America today,” the governor of New Jersey tells Fox News’s Megyn Kelly during the second […]

Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, speaks during a town hall meeting in Belmar, New Jersey, on March 25, 2014.

So does Chris Christie have too much baggage to make a 2016 run for president?

Not to hear him tell it.

“I’m older. And you know what? If you don’t have baggage, they’ll create baggage for you. That’s politics in America today,” the governor of New Jersey tells Fox News’s Megyn Kelly during the second segment of a two-part interview that airs tonight on “The Kelly Files.”

“That’s the way it goes,” Christie says. “In the end people don’t judge you on that stuff. People look into your eyes and they try to decide what’s in here and that’s how they vote. They vote for what they believe is in your heart.”

Christie, a 51-year-old Republican, has been on the offensive since a report last week commissioned by his administration purported to clear him of any involvement in four days of intentional traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge in September.

Published reports put the price tag for the report as high as $1 million for the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Democrats have been critical of the report — with the co-chairs of a legislative panel probing the lane closings most vocal — assailing it as a whitewash and incomplete.

During the interview, Christie says he’s “older and more experienced” than he was in 2011, when he turned down entreaties of business executives and political leaders to make a run for president.

He says he’ll campaign for the ultimate Republican nominee, even if it turns out to be Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. The two famously clashed last year after Paul called Christie “the king of bacon” for accepting so much Hurricane Sandy federal relief.

“I’d campaign for whoever the Republican nominee is,” Christie says. “Because I’m a Republican, and whatever differences I may have with any one of those people I just named myself — because there are differences between me and those folks — it would be minor compared to the difference I would have with whoever the Democratic nominee is.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-31/christie-baggage-just-politics-in-america/feed/0Rogers: Eyes on Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina Living Roomshttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-30/rogers-eyes-on-iowa-new-hampshire-south-carolina-living-rooms/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-30/rogers-eyes-on-iowa-new-hampshire-south-carolina-living-rooms/#commentsSun, 30 Mar 2014 20:51:25 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=126249Mike Rogers said the three magic names: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. It’s enough to gain any serious politician special notice. There’s another unspoken word here: Cumulus. That’s the company hiring the retiring Republican House intelligence chairman from Michigan as a talk show host. Merely mentioning those three early-voting and caucusing states is enough […]

Representative Michael “Mike” Rogers, a Republican from Michigan, during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 30, 2013.

Mike Rogers said the three magic names: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

It’s enough to gain any serious politician special notice.

There’s another unspoken word here: Cumulus.

That’s the company hiring the retiring Republican House intelligence chairman from Michigan as a talk show host.

Merely mentioning those three early-voting and caucusing states is enough to produce headlines like the one above. It’s also good for the radio business, having a host who might have intentions. Or even speculation about intentions — even better for business.

“First of all, you seemed in effect to indicate in your announcement that you think — and you’re the chair of a very powerful committee — but you can contribute as much as a radio talk show host,” Wallace asked. “Do you really believe that, sir?”

“Well, here’s the thing,” Rogers said. “When I took the committee, it was not functioning very well. So I work with my ranking member, Democrat from Maryland. We agree we’re going to take all the politics out of it. And so, during the last three-and-a-half years and will be four years at the end as chairman, 10 years on the committee, I think we’ve made really important strides to try to fix a lot of that — take the partisanship out of national security and fix some very hard technical problems, everything from cyber to space and everything in between, human collections. We’ve done that. I’ve helped do that. I’ve helped drive that agenda.”

“ So, when someone walked in and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you the opportunity to have a discussion, in people’s cars, living rooms and kitchen, every single day from California to Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina, we think that you can change the needle on this debate,’ and I thought long and hard about it and thought, you know, I think they’re right.”

“I noticed when you were talking about the conversation, you talked about New Hampshire and Iowa, just as random states,” Wallace said. “And, you know, Ronald Reagan back in 1980, I don’t have to tell you, used his platform as a radio commentator to run for president.”

“So is that a consideration for you? Are you prepared at this point to rule out any interest in 2016?”

“Ronald Reagan used his platform on radio to run for president of the United States?” Rogers asked. “I had no idea, Chris.”

“So what are you saying?”

“No. Listen, I’m going to take it where it goes,” Rogers said. “.This is a very unique opportunity that I will be able to talk about issues in ways that you don’t hear on a national radio platform today about the importance of national security, foreign policy, and all of the issues facing America. And, you know, to have that intimate conversation with listeners was very appealing to me all across the United States.”

“My goal here is to be as engaging as I can and to get listeners’ opinion,” he said. “And if I can move the needle on the debate, there’s a lot of celebrity politicians that are using issues candidly in Washington, D.C., today that are detrimental to the national security of the United States and the politics in Washington has gotten as small as I’ve ever seen it. This is an opportunity to explain.”

“You say celebrity politicians, you want to name one?” Wallace asked.

“I think that you’re listeners are smart and savvy enough to make their own list,” said Rogers, 50, joining a company, Cumulus Media Inc., that owns 460 radio stations and syndicates its programming to thousands more, a network that includes Don Imus, Mark Levin, Carson Daly, Michael Savage — and Huckabee.

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-30/rogers-eyes-on-iowa-new-hampshire-south-carolina-living-rooms/feed/0Simpson Bags NRA Backing in Idahohttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-17/simpson-bags-nra-backing-in-idaho/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-17/simpson-bags-nra-backing-in-idaho/#commentsMon, 17 Mar 2014 18:08:41 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=124561Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson, whose Republican primary challenger is backed by the Club ForGrowth, today bagged the endorsement of the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund. David Keene, a former president of the National Rifle Association, delivered the group’s endorsement during an appearance at an Idaho Falls restaurant, the political action fund said today in […]

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, during the House Appropriations Committee to snack on during the markup of a fiscal 2012 interior and environment draft bill.

Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson, whose Republican primary challenger is backed by the Club ForGrowth, today bagged the endorsement of the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund.

David Keene, a former president of the National Rifle Association, delivered the group’s endorsement during an appearance at an Idaho Falls restaurant, the political action fund said today in a statement.

Simpson, an eight-term House member whose credentials as a Republican are being questioned by challenger Bryan Smith, was hailed by Keene as “a true conservative leader” who “continues to lead the way on vital firearm, hunting and self- defense reforms,” according to the group’s statement.

The primary is May 20.

The NRA, which gives Simpson its highest — A+ — rating, cited his support for federal legislation to expand the rights of people with permits to carry concealed handguns to take their weapons to other states.

The Club for Growth, meanwhile, released a new video calling Simpson a RINO — Republican In Name Only. It features clips of Simpson defending his advocacy of raising more revenue during the failed budget deliberations in 2011.

The video shows Simpson being asked by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday about his Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to raise taxes. Simpson said: “I signed that in 1998 when I first ran, I didn’t know I was signing a marriage agreement that would last forever.”

The group didn’t include Simpson’s additional statement in the broadcast that “a majority of members of Congress understand that you have to have addition revenue” to close the budget deficit. That’s because tax revenue had decreased from 18 percent to 14 percent of gross domestic product as expenditures have risen from 19 percent to 25 percent of GDP, Simpson said.

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-17/simpson-bags-nra-backing-in-idaho/feed/0Murdoch Should See ‘Rupert,’ Pilloried Playwright Sayshttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-12/murdoch-should-see-rupert-pilloried-playwright-says/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-12/murdoch-should-see-rupert-pilloried-playwright-says/#commentsWed, 12 Mar 2014 19:52:03 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=124119Rupert Murdoch’s life makes for good art. The media tycoon’s story line is “still evolving,” says Australia’s most famous playwright, David Williamson, who took on the media tycoon as the subject of his most recent work, “Rupert.” The cabaret-style show produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company is making its American debut at the Kennedy Center […]

The media tycoon’s story line is “still evolving,” says Australia’s most famous playwright, David Williamson, who took on the media tycoon as the subject of his most recent work, “Rupert.”

The cabaret-style show produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company is making its American debut at the Kennedy Center tonight as Vanity Fair is reporting that Murdoch’s estranged wife, Wendi, is having an affair with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Yep, Blair figures into the plot of “Rupert,” as does Margaret Thatcher, and a host of other names from politics and journalism.

Australian ambassador Kim Beazley hosted a reception for Williamson and the cast last night, Murdoch’s 83rd birthday, at his residence, and said that Murdoch would be amused by the show.

“I’ve known him for years,” said Beazley, who has been active in Australian Labor Party politics for decades. “The thing is his paper pillories you, but he expects to have a proper conversation with you. He expects nobody’s going to take offense. In the end, you don’t.”

Some of Murdoch’s relatives have seen the show, Williamson said, and he won’t be surprised to see Murdoch himself in the audience soon.

“I’ve been fairer to him than he’s been to me,” said Williamson, who was the target of a Murdoch editorial saying that he should be thrown out of Australia. “It’s hard to be objective. There are some biases in there, but I try to let him have his own voice. He’s got the soul of any entertainer. You should read his tweets.”

Beazley said his Washington friends will enjoy “Rupert,” especially the city’s conservative contingent “who either work for think tanks or Fox News.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-12/murdoch-should-see-rupert-pilloried-playwright-says/feed/0Ailes’ Biographer Recalls Close Encounter of the Angry Kindhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-02-20/ailes-biographer-recalls-close-encounter-of-the-angry-kind/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-02-20/ailes-biographer-recalls-close-encounter-of-the-angry-kind/#commentsThu, 20 Feb 2014 21:25:32 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=121905Don’t cross Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, especially at a party. Gabriel Sherman learned that lesson the hard way in 2012 when he tried to interview Ailes at an event at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York while researching his book on the cable TV kingpin, “The Loudest Voice in the Room.” “I’d been trying for […]

Author Gabriel Sherman attends a party in his honor for the release of his book “The Loudest Voice in the Room” about the life and career of Roger Ailes, the president of Fox News Channel.

Don’t cross Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, especially at a party.

Gabriel Sherman learned that lesson the hard way in 2012 when he tried to interview Ailes at an event at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York while researching his book on the cable TV kingpin, “The Loudest Voice in the Room.”

“I’d been trying for the better part of two years to get an interview with him, but he was stonewalling me,” Sherman recalled last night at a book party in his honor at the Washington offices of People for the American Way. “All my sources told me he was paranoid about my book because he couldn’t control what I put in it.”

Sherman said he politely approached Ailes at the hotel, but he was met with a tirade in return. Among other complaints, Ailes called Sherman a “harasser” who had been unfairly targeting his wife, Elizabeth.

“He blustered that I was allowed to write my book because he was defending the First Amendment,” Sherman said. “In that moment he sounded like Jack Nicholson in `A Few Good Men.’ It was like `I’m on that wall because you need me on that wall.’ That’s a window into his grandiosity and bluster.”

After spending nearly three years putting together his book — published earlier this year — Sherman doesn’t have many nice things to say about its subject. But he speaks admirably about the control Ailes wields over the Fox News empire.

“The network was literally built in his image. He purges anyone who is not politically loyal to him. He’s built a cult of personality around him. Everyone in that building thinks about how t0 please Roger Ailes. His voice is in the back of everyone’s mind.”

Ailes micro manages everything, including the wardrobes of the on-air talent, according to Sherman.

“He’s a leg man,” said the author, referring to why the women anchors are prohibited from wearing trousers.

And they’re almost always blonde, another Ailes obsession.

The boss man isn’t grooming anyone to take his place, despite the fact that he will turn 74 in May and his health, Sherman said, is poor.

“Ailes has publicly refused to name a successor. I think that speaks to his own paranoia. If you’re an emperor, you don’t hand-pick a prince because then the guy’s going to have a knife in your back.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-02-20/ailes-biographer-recalls-close-encounter-of-the-angry-kind/feed/0Kasich Hopes to Rejoin ‘Old Dudes’ on TVhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-02-06/kasich-hopes-to-rejoin-old-dudes-on-tv/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-02-06/kasich-hopes-to-rejoin-old-dudes-on-tv/#commentsThu, 06 Feb 2014 17:17:27 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=120659Ohio Gov. John Kasich has his sights set on returning to the media when his gig in politics is over. Kasich, a former congressman and Republican presidential candidate in 2000, hosted “Heartland with John Kasich” on Fox News from 2001 to 2007 and was a guest host for “The O’Reilly Factor” before being elected governor […]

John Kasich, governor of Ohio, center, announces his state’s choice for presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, on Aug. 28, 2012.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has his sights set on returning to the media when his gig in politics is over.

Kasich, a former congressman and Republican presidential candidate in 2000, hosted “Heartland with John Kasich” on Fox News from 2001 to 2007 and was a guest host for “The O’Reilly Factor” before being elected governor in 2010. He told the Ohio Newspaper Association today that he’s thinking about getting back to TV when he leaves office because of how much he enjoyed it.

“I would hope someday that I’ll be back,” Kasich said during a speech in Columbus. “80 is the new 60, so we’ll see. I keep watching all these old dudes that are on TV.”

Kasich, who is running for a second term this year and is mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2016, also said he’s contemplating another book. He has written three others, mostly recently “Every Other Monday, Twenty Years of Life, Lunch, Faith and Friendship” in 2010 about his Bible study group.

The governor didn’t spell out specifics but said the book would focus on “the fact that nothing good is ever lost, and the things that we do that we might think are insignificant really do matter.”